A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a game controller and more particularly, to novel components that control the movements of an action figure in a game in a much more realistic manner than in the prior art. The controller may be used with a dedicated electronic apparatus or a general purpose computer such as a PC. Additionally, the locations of some of the existing components have been shifted to render the controller more ergonomic.
B. Description of the Prior Art
An article in the Jun. 5, 2005 issue of the New York Times described how joy sticks were originally used for controlling airplanes at the beginning of the twentieth century. In any event, joy sticks or video game controllers became popular as the preferred devices for controlling video games.
As originally developed in the 1970's, joy sticks had a lever pivoting from a central joined and spring biased toward a neutral position. The lever was accompanied by a programmable single push-button used for various functions in different games.
Game controllers continued to evolve from their one button origin to a configuration with several buttons and other control means calculated to give a player the illusion of being completely immersed in the virtual world of a game. One typical game controller is Sony's Dual Shock controller (described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,906). This controller has a plethora of buttons and other control means. For example, it includes two analog thumb sticks, a D-pad, four digital face buttons, two sets of left and right digital shoulder buttons placed on the same vertical plane in close proximity to each other and a start and select button.
In the past, like many previous video game controllers, the Nintendo SNES controller relied exclusively on the D-pad to achieve character movement. (The D-pad is a digital cross-shaped directional pad, illustrated in more detail below). The pad was used to turn movement on or off. Once movement was activated, the character would only move in a given direction at a constant speed. Needless to say, this action was very stilted and looked and felt too awkward to be realistic.
Subsequent advancements in technology enabled the video game industry to shift from flat 2D visuals to fully-realized 3D worlds. These advancements necessitated additional components for character actions, such as four digital face buttons and two to four digital shoulder buttons. A left analog stick was used that was more than adequate for character movement, wherein controlled walking and running was accomplished with a relatively low degree of precision, as opposed to looking and aiming in a three dimensional environment, which requires tremendous precision to achieve with accuracy. Therefore, using the right analog stick 14R solely for viewing the game environment or aiming a weapon is severely limiting to the game player.
At the Electronic Expo or E3 held on May 11, 2004 in Los Angeles, Sony announced a new portable video game system called the PSP®. Internet video game news websites, like gamespot.com, covered by the PSP's components and functionality. One example of gamespot.com documenting the new device is an article published by James Yu on Feb. 4, 2005 appearing in the “Hardware” section of Gamespot.com's website and entitled “PSP 101”. In the afore-mentioned article the PSP® is shown with an analog tracking button. This button relies on significant measurable sliding movement in all directions on the horizontal plane to allow the game character to walk or look around the game environment. There are several reasons why this approach is still unsatisfactory.
The look/aim movement in existing games equates to the game character turning its body left and right from head to toe. The problems with using the right analog stick 14R or the PSP's sliding analog button for the look/aim function include:
diminished control over the precision movement of the look function as a result of the extended tilting area of the right analog stick 14R (the greater the tilting range of the stick the less control the player has over the look/aim function). The PSP's analog sliding button, which is better than the right analog stick 14R for the look/aim function, still falls short of precision control as a result of its extended sliding range in the horizontal plane.
A video game player using the right analog stick 14R for the look/aim function will face a slow reaction time when reaching for the four main digital face buttons (12A, B, C, and D) as a result of having to lift their right thumb off the right analog stick 14R and press it onto one of the four main digital face buttons.
In addition, there are several problems associated with the placement of the left and right digital shoulder buttons (32L and 32R) on existing game controller, including:
a. fatigue as a direct result of the game player elevating his middle fingers for lengthy time periods to reach and manipulate the left and right digital shoulder buttons (32L & 32R);
b. discomfort and cramping from the repeated back and forth motion of the video game player lifting his middle fingers from their natural down and back position to press the left and right digital shoulder buttons (32L & 32R) directly under and on the said vertical plane as the left and right analog triggers (30L & 30R); and
c. slow reaction time for the video game player when he has to lift his middle fingers from a natural down and back position to a very different elevated angle to press and utilize the left and right digital shoulder buttons.
Other attempts have been made to improve the design of the standard video game controller. For example, the U.S. patent application publication US20040090416 expands the configuration of a current video game controller by adding an action button. In U.S. patent application publication US200440090416 an action button, (shown by numeral 54 in FIG. 2) can record 1 series of complex attack actions, through the use of a specialized memory controller, and then execute all of the attack movements consecutively with one press of a single action button. Problems with using the action button 54 include:
diminished ability of skilled players who rely on hand eye coordination and intellectual strategy to perform difficult game maneuvers to distinguish themselves
the elimination of a fair and balanced game play environment
several limitation of the range of competitive parameters upon which all video games are based, as all players will be able to set up and execute extremely complex combat maneuvers via a single button press.